IU defeats Ohio St. for victory on Senior Day

With 15 seconds left in the first half, neither IU nor Ohio State looked like it would put any goals on the board in the first 45 minutes.

That was until the ball found the foot of sophomore Nikita Kotlov. He received a pass from fellow sophomore Matt McKain in the box and nailed it past Ohio State for the only goal of the game.

Kotlov now has six goals this season, with five of them from the Hoosiers’ last six games.

“Me and Eriq (Zavaleta) noticed that Matt had the ball, and we knew we still had a chance before the end of the half, so we both made runs, and luckily, the ball ended up right on my feet,” Kotlov said. “I took a first touch and finished it. I hit it as hard as I could without really knowing where the goal was, but it went in, and that’s all that mattered.”

Ohio State was playing to secure the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament, but the IU men’s soccer team squashed the Buckeyes’ hopes and gained more momentum heading into postseason play with a 1-0 victory Saturday at Jerry Yeagley Field.

Redshirt junior Nick Blevins and seniors Chris Estridge, Tyler McCarroll, Tommy Meyer and Alec Purdie played their final regular season home game in the cream and crimson. The Hoosiers celebrated Senior Day with a win to move to 3-1-2 in the Big Ten and 11-3-4 overall.

“It’s been a great senior day for me,” Estridge said. “We really appreciate all the hard work everyone put in, and to get a win against a good team, it’s fantastic.”

In the second half, the IU defensive line, along with junior goalkeeper Luis Soffner, faced a heightened attack by the Buckeyes, who tried nine shots in the final 45 minutes.

But they put only two shots on frame, and Soffner made both saves, giving IU its eighth shutout of the season.

Estridge said the Hoosiers were much more focused and on the defensive than they had been in past games, during which they were able to secure 2-0 leads, which they often let get away from them in 2-2 ties or losses.

“A lot of times, when we’ve been up 2-0, we relax, and that’s always the most dangerous lead in soccer,” Estridge said. “With the 1-0 lead, it puts us more on edge, and we knew we had to protect it. We’ve been giving up some goals lately, and it’s
something we’ve really worked on and had to focus on.”

Even though he said he would have loved to see his team grab another goal, IU Coach Todd Yeagley said he was happy with the way his players competed with the 1-0 lead they were able to keep in the second half.

“I would have taken the extra goal any day, and I thought we were going to get it at some point in that second half,” Yeagley said. “But today’s win was very important and puts us in a very good position. We’ve got a lot of soccer left to play, and we’ve got a loose, hungry crew who didn’t get the title they wanted in the regular season, so now we’re going to go try to get one in the postseason.”